Animal Line Art
WSJ hedcut - Sharpei
This time, Illustrations of Animals, in Line Art. I introduced my illustration style to The Wall Street Journal years ago, and I’m still creating these illustrations for many diverse clients today. This art is generally considered “line art” because is it is essentially a pen-and-ink process, Black on white. The WSJ found this technique ideal for the newspaper of those years, as it was an only black-and-white affair, with no photos. Even with the more tabloid appearance of today’s Journal, the paper still utilizes this style of art throughout its pages.
Some of the illustrations in this post were done at The Journal, and some were not. I’ll explain…
Illustration of a Black Bear
The image above was likely created in my first year at WSJ. It is a bit crude, stylistically. In a little while, my technique got a little sharper…
WSJ image of a Loon
This image was a favorite of my wife’s at the time. She carried it around in her wallet for years. Hence, the crease towards the right of the drawing. One more from the Journal, with the style starting to crystalize…
WSJ full-column drawing of a Reindeer
I hope you’ll notice my signature on the above… stamp of approval!
One more from the WSJ zoo:
WSJ art - Seal
I liked this one enough to sign, too. Can you find my signature?
Moving on, the next few were done for clients outside of The Wall Street Journal purview. I was coming into my own, and receiving acclaim and some prized assignments, as well:
NRDC Bear
The Grizzly Bear illustration, above, was commissioned by film-maker George Butler of White Mountain Films. He used this image for some of his film-work, and also put it to use for a gala dinner in New York for NRDC, the environmental group.
Logo illustration for Defenders of Wildlife
I’m proud of the above illustration. The Defenders of Wildlife commissioned this drawing as their trademark. The organization later replaced my drawing with a rather flat, digital image, … no accounting for taste!
Stalking Tiger
Here is another example of an illustration for White Mountain Films. Mr. Butler commissioned many such works from me, but he was never as satisfied as when I delivered the Grizzly Bear art! Here is another Great Cat (Which I consider pretty good!) …
Illustration of a Lion
That wraps it up for this week. I hope you’ve enjoyed viewing my art from down the years!
